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Changes of Intestinal Microecology in Patients with Primary Sjogren’s Syndrome after Therapy of Yangyin Yiqi Huoxue Recipe (养阴益气活血方)

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Abstract

Objective

To explore the change of intestinal microecology in patients with primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) and correlation with disease activity, and also discuss the therapy effect of Yangyin Yiqi Huoxue Recipe (养阴益气活血方, YYHD).

Methods

Sixteen pSS patients were enrolled in the present study, who received 3-month treatment of YYHR, 200 mL orally twice daily. Their pre-and post-test ESSDAI scores, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were measured respectively. The 16SrDNA metagenomic sequencing was used to detect and analyze the abundance and diversity of intestinal bacteria flora and the proportion of bacteria at the levels of phylum, family, and genus, in comparision with those of 6 healthy subjects in the control group.

Results

The abundance and diversity of intestinal bacteria flora in pSS patients were lower than those of healthy subjects (P<0.05). After the treatment with YYHD, patients’ ESSDAI score and levels of IgG and ESR have decreased significantly (P<0.05). At the phylum level, the proportions of Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria and Proteobacteria have reduced sharply, while the proportions of Bacteroidetes, Teneriquetes and Candidate-division-TM7 have increased significantly by treatment (all P<0.05). At the classification level, such treatment has caused a significant decrease in the proportions of Bacteroidaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Veillonellaceae, and Enterobacteriacea (all P<0.05), but a significant increase in the proportion of Lachnospiraceae (P<0.05). At the genus level, the treatment has significantly decreased the proportions of Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Escherichia-Shigella, Faecalibacterium and Prevotella (all P<0.05), but significantly increased the proportion of Clostridia (P<0.05), close to the levels of healthy subjects (P>0.05).

Conclusions

There exists an imbalance of intestinal microecology in pSS patients, which can be improved through the treatment with YYHD. Besides, such treatment can also improve the disease activity and adjust the diversity of intestinal bacteria flora, the composition and the abundance of intestinal flora.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China

    Guo-lin Wu, Hai-feng Lu & Heng Cao

  2. Basic Medical College, Zhejiang University of Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, 310053, China

    Yi-lian Chen & Tian-yi Li

  3. Internal Medicine, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Provincial, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Qing Wang

Authors
  1. Guo-lin Wu
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  2. Hai-feng Lu
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  3. Yi-lian Chen
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  4. Qing Wang
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  5. Heng Cao
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  6. Tian-yi Li
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Contributions

Wu GL and Li TY carried out the studies, participated in collecting data, and drafted the manuscript. Lu HF and Wang Q carried out intestinal microecological detection. Chen YL and Cao H collected cases and examined specimens. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tian-yi Li.

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All authors declare that they have no any conflict of interests.

Additional information

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81473604) and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China (No. LY19H270013)

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Wu, Gl., Lu, Hf., Chen, Yl. et al. Changes of Intestinal Microecology in Patients with Primary Sjogren’s Syndrome after Therapy of Yangyin Yiqi Huoxue Recipe (养阴益气活血方). Chin. J. Integr. Med. 25, 654–662 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-019-2939-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-019-2939-4

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